Meet Beate Kampmann, Scientific Director of the newly established Charité Centre for Global Health and Director of the Institute for International Health, and Member of the Virchow Foundation for Global Health Board of Trustees
After over 30 years of working and living in the UK and Africa, Beate Kampmann recently relocated to Berlin from a Chair position in Paediatric Infection & Immunity at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where she directed the Vaccine Centre. Over the last 12 years, she divided her working time between London and The Gambia, West Africa, leading the vaccine research at the MRC Unit – The Gambia and continues to supervise her research projects and PhD students. Professor Kampmann trained as a clinician-scientist in Germany, France, USA, South Africa and the UK and holds an MD from the University of Cologne and a PhD from Imperial College London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK and the West African College of Physicians and she is an MRC Senior Researcher.
Her translational research portfolio extends from laboratory science to clinical trials of novel vaccine and adjuvants and into health policy guidance, with a scientific focus on innate and acquired immune responses to infection. Beate Kampmann has supported the career development of many African and European clinican-scientists and post-docs and has published over 300 articles. Over the years, she has acted as an advisor on vaccines, childhood tuberculosis and broader global health topics to the BMGF, WHO, UKRI, Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK.
Read more on her continued engagement for global health and her role within the Virchow Foundation for Global Health.
From your perspective, why is engagement and awareness raising for global health important?
In our interconnected world, our own personal health is intimately linked to health of the planet and its populations – wherever they live. As responsible citizens we cannot separate ourselves from the global community, and it remains important to keep this at the forefront of our minds in personal and political decisions.
How are you committed to engaging in global health topics within your current professional role and activities?
At this stage of my career, I feel that establishing the Charité Centre of Global Health would not only provide me with a unique opportunity to build on my longstanding commitment to global health, but essentially increase visibility of this important topic within Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin and in Germany, resulting in more collaborative research and evidence-based policies.
How do you hope to achieve greater awareness and engagement for global health in your new role at the Virchow Foundation for Global Health? How can the Virchow Prize for Global Health help to increase awareness?
I hope that my established networks can be of help to more junior colleagues where we are looking towards career development and positions in global health in Germany and international institutions. The Virchow Foundation for Global Health is a prestigious organisation able to lobby for our joint objectives, and the Virchow Prize for Global Health represents an outstanding accolade for achievements with the highest impact towards ‘Health for All’.
Meet the Members of the Virchow Foundation for Global Health Board of Trustees: www.virchowprize.org/board-of-trustees /
